White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School Originally: 화이트데이: 학교라는 이름의 미궁 (''Romanization: ''hwaiteudei: hakgyoraneun ireumui migung). '''A survival-horror game made by Korean game studio Sonnori in 2001, White Day: A Labryinth Named School is the story of a young man's trip into school at the dead of night to deliver some candy in preparation for the Eastern Holiday of the same name, White Day (Similar to Valentine's Day in western countries) to 'So-yeong', a girl at school he likes. Finding himself locked up soon after entering, escaping the school now becomes the main objective. Gameplay "White Day" is a first person survival horror with numerous adventure game elements and plot based on the ancient Chinese religious studies of Taosim (mainly Wu Xing, Feng Shui and Qi). You play the role as Hui-min, cooperating with So-yeong, Ji-hyeon, Seong-ah (who are also trapped in the school with you) to progress through the school and ultimately escape unharmed by the numerous threats that want you dead. There are 8 different endings you can get, each determining which girl you end up escaping with (or dying with, depending on the girl). Throughout the game, you're almost constantly being pursued by one of the two possessed janitors and other ghosts in the school that intend to kill you. The Janitor is first seen in chapter one from a ventilation shaft, beating an unknown school student to death with his bat and dragging him by the head through the stairwell door. When the janitor finds you, he will blow his whistle and proceeds to chase you wherever you go until you outrun him or lose him by hiding. If he catches up to you, he will repeatedly hit you with his bat until you are dead. The janitor finds you much easier if you make loud noises (running, opening doors etc.) and whether you are hiding in the dark or light won't affect how easily you can be discovered as he wields a flashlight in his left hand at all times. Falling from a height, walking into ghosts or taking damage from other hazards will cause the screen to flash red and increase the rate of your heartbeat, which is heard in-game. Running for too long will make you tired and also increase the rate of your heartbeat. Soyabean Milk, Lunch Boxes and Coffee Cans can be obtained by inserting 500 won Coins in Vending Machines placed in hallways and rooms around the school, and can recover your stamina and health. Plot The story begins the day of the 13th - the day before White Day and a day after Hui-min was transferred to Yon Do High School. Hui-min (the main character) makes plans to give a student called So-yeong candy for White Day. During a break in the school day, he finds So-yeong sitting on a bench near the school garden, and goes to give her the candy. Suddenly, the wind blows the pages of the book she's reading and a photo lands at Hui-min's feet. It is a photo of So-yeong and her dead sister Na-yeong. He goes to pick it up, but So-yeong snatches it off him and Ji-hyeon appears standing by a tree waiting for So-yeong. So-yeong walks off with Ji-hyeon leaving her diary on the bench, so Hui-min decides to take the diary, planning to give it back to her along with the candy. With no time left, Hui-min goes back into school at 9:30pm (just after school) to leave it on her desk, not knowing that the school is locked up at 10:00pm. Somehow escaping the school now becomes a main objective. To Hui-min's surprise, he finds Seong-ah, Ji-hyeon and So-yeong are all at school too. Background Yeondu Highschool's construction led to the unbalanced feng shui around the area. It is said that the area used to be a perfect natural landscape before it was built. During the Korean War, the school was a Korean hospital. Many visitors and builders died during the construction of the building that had awakened the power (Qi) of the inbalance of feng shui and the ghosts from the hospital, so a geomancer was brought in to construct 5 amulets representing the 5 elements (Wu Xing). He then equally spread them around the school to balance feng shui and resist the spirits, preventing them from interfering with the living. However, it also locked in spirits in the school, preventing them from going to the afterlife. This was kept a secret from that day onwards. One day, in 1998, a lab fire broke out in the Home Economics room, resulting in the death of Seong-ah. Seong-ah was a very close friend of Na-yeong (So-yeong's older sister). Seong-ah had asthma and Na-yeong took care of her very well - you can hear that a Seong-ah's mother (Choi Eun-mi) thanking Na-yeong's mother over the phone (in the labyrinth chapter) for Na-yeong being a very good friend of Seong-ah. Seong-ah and Na-yeong were about to meet in the Home Economics room at night, but Na-yeong didn't come, and Seong-ah was kept waiting for her to come. A fire broke out in the home economics room, and Seong-ah had asthma so she was killed by the smoke while crying out her mother and Na-yeong's name. Seong-ah's spirit was also locked in the school, holding a deep grudge on Na-yeong. The music teacher, Ji-won, had discovered the school's past and began to study it. Other teachers laughed at her, but she deeply believed that she could resurrect the dead using the power of feng shui of the area. One day, Seong-ah's mother visited her and asked for the resurrection of her daughter to the teacher, and she decided to help her out so he can prove that her theory was right. To revive the dead, appropriate land, time and 3 people were needed - however, land and time were prepared. And 3 necessary people were 1. a person who calls the dead (Seong-ah's mother, Choi Eun-mi), 2. a person who can break the seals using the amulets (a person who sees ghost - the music teacher, Ji-won), and 3. a living body that is to be sacrificed (Na-yeong). They successfully called Na-yeong to the school at night, but somehow, the ritual went wrong - they didn't know that the seals had to be broken one by one, and some seals had to be remained unbroken while the land regains the strength (otherwise, the spirits will go afterlife if all of them are broken). As a result of the failure, Seong-ah was summoned incompletely, Eun-mi went crazy (a ghost story note that can be found in the game warns that a person who tries to summon a ghost can go crazy), and Na-yeong, who was living with deep guilt after Seong-ah's death, hangs herself in school. Shortly after, Ji-won also commits suicide, resulting in the music room ghost. After 3 years, Na-yeong's sister, So-yeong gets into school, and Seong-ah approaches So-yeong this time. However, So-yeong's best friend since the childhood, Ji-hyeon (a girl with glasses) was a person who can see ghosts. This is why Ji-hyeon thought So-yeong, who couldn't see ghosts, ignores Seong-ah often. In fact, these three were never together at the same time. (You might think it's little awkward, but considering that the fact that the Korean high school's new semester starts in late February or March and the White Day is on March 14th, it's understandable because Ji-hyeon and Seong-ah were pretty new to each other by that time) Knowing that Ji-hyeon can see ghosts, Seung-ah plans to be revived using Ji-hyeon as a person who breaks the seals and choosing So-yeong as a victim. Somehow, she successfully made Ji-hyeon to come to school and So-yeong was also in the school to find out the truth of her sister's death. However, without explaining the whole procedures, Seung-ah felt difficult to make Ji-hyeon to break the seals. And then, our main character Hui-min comes into the school at night. Seung-ah finds out that Hui-min also can see her, so she decides to make Hui-min to break seals instead of using timid Ji-hyeon. Seong-ah intentionally helps Hui-min (by giving a key or knocking out the janitor) to find some amulets. But she didn't want him to break all the seals, and this is when the Seung-ah's mother comes into the play to stop Hui-min from breaking too many seals (by throwing the knife). Endings The Endings are named after different flowers. The first letter of each ending spell out W H I T E D A Y (White Chrysanthemum, Hyacinth, Ivy, Tuberose, Ebony, Dandelion, Althea, Yew). Entering individual endings is affected by hidden compatibility values of each corresponding female characters. Note that trying to see the butts of female characters (which you can do by sitting down near female characters) will cause the immediate decrease of compatibility to the lowest value, moreover if you do that, then female characters will kick or punch you, which can kill you with severe damage. '''Hui-Min Endings : Yew (Death) : The point of this ending is that there is no ending. You either die in the collapse of the Main Building because of the baby, the explosion of the gas in the boiler room of the Lecture Hall after the fire, or when the clock strikes midnight in "Real" Mode. So-yeong Endings : White Chrysanthemum (Truth) : Maximize the compatibility with So-young and SAVE HER at the final run at the very and game after escaping the Labyrinth. Tell her you have her diary, before she gets grabbed by the tree. At the Recording Room in Main Building Area 1, select "Follow the crying sound". Then lie to So-yeong by saying "I didn't do anything" after following the crying sound, and give her diary back at the New Building. Give a can coffee at the New Building, when she say she is thirsty and tired. : In this ending, both So-yeong and Hui-min escape the school alive, and So-yeong feels pity for Seong-ah, who died lonely in the room. : Hyacinth (Sorrow / Forgive Me) : This ending is achieved by the same conditions as White Chrysanthemum, except do not take So-yeong with you at the final run after the Labyrinth. : Hui-min runs in a hurry, feeling Na-yeong's stares at back. : Dandelion (Sincerity / Happiness) : This ending is achieved by the same conditions as White Chrysanthemum, except do not give her coffee at the New Building or give her diary back. Ji-hyeon Endings : Ivy (Friendship) : Select positive replies to Ji-hyeon, and take care of her after the fire in the Lecture Hall. : They successfully release all the spirits that were locked in the school and let them go to the afterlife. : Althea (Consumed By Love) : Select negative replies to Ji-hyeon, and take care of her after the fire in the Lecture Hall. : Because Hui-min broke all the seals, Seong-ah suddenly gives him a cold stare while she is leaving with Ji-hyeon. Seong-ah Endings : Tuberose (Dangerous Pleasures) : No matter how badly Seong-ah treats you, select positive replies to Seong-ah. After the fire in the Lecture Hall, do not look after Ji-hyeon. : In this ending, Seong-ah finally revives, and So-yeong becomes a ghost, locked in the school instead. : Ebony (Hypocrisy / Darkness) : Select negative replies to Seong-ah. After the fire in the Lecture Hall, do not look after Ji-hyeon. :Seong-ah appears just before Hui-min breaks the last seal, and say that he is a fool (because he eventually helped her to revive by breaking all seals except the last one) Trivia Some English translations are misleading in a scene where Eun-mi throws a knife to the door with a water amulet. She was not pursuing her revival (although she is a bit crazy, she is not a ghost), but she was wishing her 'daughter' (Seong-ah) to be revived. The janitors were blocking her way when the fire was broke while Seong-ah was in the Home Economics room a 3 years ago. This became Eun-mi's trauma, and this is why she hates the fire alarm sounds and the janitors so much. A person who called Ji-hyeon to the school can be either Na-yeong or Seung-ah. Some people say Na-yeong called Ji-hyeon so she can help So-yeong, who just went to the school at night alone (in the game, Seong-ah says that Na-yeong and So-yeong's voices are very hard to distinguish, and Ji-hyeon said that So-yeong called her to come school when So-yeong never called her), and some people say that Seong-ah called Ji-hyeon out. It is still controversial. The ghost that hung up in the second floor of the old building is Na-yeong. She continuously pops up in front of amulet areas to guide and help Hui-min. Foreigners who do not understand Korean and using English patch have difficult time seeing the Tuberose ending, because of some English translation errors that caused by cultural differences. You have to be nice to Seong-ah all the time to see her true ending, but there's a time where you have to choose between two negative answers and gets confused (something like 1. No vs. 2. I don't care). However, in Korea, you have to say yes to the negative question to say that you agree with the question. For example, let's say that someone asked you "did you understand?" to see if you understood. Both Americans (and Europeans) and Koreans will say "yes" to say "I understood", and "no" to say "I did not understand." However, if the question is asked in a negative way, "didn't you understand?", then Americans will still say "Yes, I understood" or "No, I did NOT understand." But Koreans think that because the question was asked in a negative way, if you say yes, then it means that you agree with the question, thus it means that you did not understand. So Koreans would say "Yes, I did NOT understand", or "No, I understood". So, the kind answer to Seong-ah to the above question with 2 negatives choices would be No. So the choices were actually (1. No, I care about others vs. 2. I don't care, something like this). Conversation you can hear in the last chapter of So-yeong's end (the labyrinth chapter) are as follows: 1. Phone conversation between Seong-ah and So-yeong. (Seong-ah says that it's really hard to distinguish So-yeong's voice from Na-yeong's voice. Seong-ah was close friend of Na-yeong, so she was friendly with So-yeong as well) 2. Phone conversation between Seong-ah's mother and Na-yeong's mother (saying thanks to each other) 3. Conversation between Seong-ah and Na-yeong (shows how close they were) 4. Seong-ah, alone in the Home Economics room, looking for So-yeong when fire broke out. Continuously crying out for her mother and Na-yeong's name. 5. Seong-ah's mother rushed to school, but the janitors won't let her go in. Continuously searching for Seong-ah and crying out her name. 6. Seong-ah is crying out for her mother. 7. Seong-ah (ghost) holds a grudge against Na-yeong. :"Na-yeong, look at me. Can't you see me?" :"When I was dying...where were you?" :"Don't try to act sad. Don't act nice...I will make you feel me. (laughs)" 8. So-yeong tries to talk to Na-yeong, who is suffering alone in guilt. Development The game was publicly released in 2000 for PC, and was only released in Korea. Therefore, it never got out from Korea back then at that time. The game was so terrifying that many people emailed the developers saying they couldn't complete the game because of how absolutely frightening it was. They released some patches for the game that changed the scare levels dependent on what difficulty you choose. There are more healing items and far less scares on very easy mode, but less healing items on Real difficulty mode, but more story and scares. Though not all scares will be experienced in a single play-through regardless, as the game features quite a few randomized scares that may or may not happen in a play-through. Dev. Versions (1998-2001) #White Day: Ghost School (1998), only promotional video trailer exists. #White Day: Blood Festival/Blood Party (1999) First playable version, which never got outside Korea and it probably never got a public release perhaps just a mere "in-dev-beta". #White Day: A Ghost School Tragedy (2000) which only a demo version of it exists today, but possibly some people still own it in the wild, but it hasn't leaked publicly yet. #White Day: A Labyrinth named school (Final, 2001), early versions of the final 2001 release which more or less included Multiplayer mode and other stuff which was possibly removed on later versions/after patches. #White Day: A Labyrinth named school (2004), cancelled official English release. The game had a complete mastery of atmosphere, scares paying off, and though outdated graphically, boasted some extremely ahead of their time ideas. The team unfortunately was disbanded shortly after the game was released. It was scheduled for English release by the UK based company called 4AM Entertainment in 2004 but was cancelled early beforehand. Closing of Sonnori co. The game became abandon-ware (right after the closing of Korean developer Sonnori) and now there are no holders to it's rights or any copyrights on it, making sense as it didn't sell well, only sold in South Korea, and had almost non-existent advertising back at the time.http://www.moddb.com/games/white-day Fan Updates, Patches Non-official fan patches are released by "Unnamed" which contains lots of fixes and much better English translation than previous translations for the game.http://www.unnamedstudios.net/p/whiteday.htmlThanks to that, the game became even more popular now since 2012/13 and got many fans while it was completely unknown before to most people due to the lack of advertisements. Amazon Product Description White Day is a fear-inducing, horror-survival game viewed, for the first time ever in this genre, completely from a first-person perspective. It unfolds like a movie. The player becomes a love-sick teenager entering the local school late at night to return his dream girl's diary, which she lost earlier in the day, and to drop off a token of affection; White Day candy. Players are introduced to two of the central characters, talking about ghost stories, in one of the school's many haunted corridors. It isn't long before the first problem of disabling the school alarm system becomes a priority. During this challenge the game takes a very dark turn, as you witness the janitor, a man to with a baseball bat, while the sounds of young, and decidedly spooky children laugh. There are no weapons in White Day, but many ingenious puzzles litter the way: the player disables alarm systems, opens combination safes and rescues trapped school kids from weird apparitions. The difficulty setting helps the player to get into the story while providing a harder challenge at every turn. Taking the genre one step further, Sonnori have included a multiplayer feature, that adds a real-time scare factor to the game, as online players can choose a role from a host of horrors including ghost, devil or janitor or, as per the singleplayer mode, a helpless and unarmed school kid.